Living a Lie

For 22 years, John Doe assumed the identity of a man whose wallet was stolen from his car in 1989.

Living a Lie

When a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Jacksonville, Florida interviewed an individual suspected of driver’s license fraud in 2011, he wasn’t initially sure if the man was the victim or the perpetrator of identity theft.

That’s because the man—now imprisoned and officially known as John Doe—had a stack of government-issued identification acquired during the 22 years he had been using a living victim’s identity. That included a passport, driver’s license, birth certificate, Social Security card, and identification allowing him unescorted access to a port and military installation. And it all started back in 1989, when the victim’s car was broken into and his wallet was stolen.